We are FINALLY getting married!

Back in 2016, I was living my life with the "I don't need a man" mentality, all I needed was my boy George (my dog). I had been living alone for about three years and I was working hard in my Restaurant Management career. I wasn't thinking about love or marriage in the slightest. In February, I had decided I wanted to buy a house so I had spent the day packing up my apartment and preparing to move into Jennifer's house while I saved. The neighboring Johnson family ended up inviting us over for Taco Tuesday. Even though I had been packing all day and didn't really look my best, YOU CAN'T SAY NO TO TACOS! When we got over there, Jodi and Kahli introduced me to Chris's brother, Shawn. A few months pass by, I hadn't thought much about this Shawn guy I had met, until Jodi tells me how it was her and Kahli's plan to set us up and they had been trying for months, it just never seemed to work out. So of course, like any other girl, I started the Facebook stalking! I added him as a friend and realized it was his birthday. So I shared a witty Happy Birthday picture to his page that said "Happy Birthday! You are one year closer to your balls touching the water when you sit down to pee." His response: "How do you know they don't already?" This is the moment I fell in love. By June I asked him out on our first date, it was at Native New Yorker and I was fresh off a long shift in the kitchen at the steakhouse. I probably stunk so bad, but he still came and we sat and talked for a few hours. In October he finally came to his senses and made me his official Girlfriend! I kept falling more and more in love with this man. Super Bowl weekend in 2017, I told him "You don't know it yet, but we are going to get married one day!" (I didn't think it would take 7.5 years, but I'll take it!) Shawn asked me to marry him on September 9th, 2023. Now here we are, 8 years together and ready to tie the knot. These have been some of the best years of my life! I am so thankful for Taco Tuesday for bringing us together. I am so excited to see where the rest of our lives takes us.

We first met a little over a year before we started dating. I had been invited to taco night at my brother Chris’ in laws house. They had also invited their neighbor Jennifer and her new roommate/ “niece” Kayla. I somewhat suspected they were possibly trying to get Kayla and I to meet. But I really didn’t get into that much so I just played it off. I went to taco night and met Kayla. I think she said 3 words the whole night. I thought to myself "that’s weird" not knowing she had been sick. It’s also summer in Arizona and 108 degrees and they were moving furniture all day. So she wasn’t as presentable as she thought she should have been and was super embarrassed. I didn’t talk to her again till the following May on my birthday I get a funny birthday message from her. Then we started talking over messenger for about a month. Then we went on our first date at Native Grill after her shift at the steakhouse. It went pretty well. We had lots to talk about. From there we went on other dates, I met her dog George, and went to a Diamondbacks game. I helped her move into the house next door to Jennifer that she bought when my brother Chris’ in-laws moved out. In that time we had gotten closer, Kayla was the first one to say the L word and was ready to be more steady. Then, that October I brought her a 6 pack of Dos Equis and a dozen roses and asked her to be my girlfriend. She obviously accepted. From there our relationship grew and I bought a new home which I asked Kayla and George to move in with me which we ended up remodeling together. Over the years we went on many trips in and out of the country, said goodbye to old friends and family (Great Grandma and Grandpa Dey, Dennis and Victoria), and said hello to new ones (Grandpa Tom and Grandma Gail, and gained 5 more nieces/nephews). Enjoyed the growth of our friends and families relationships as well as our own. Pushed through a near death experience of Kayla and her twin sister Rhonda when they got hit by a car. We bought our first vacation home in the mountains of Northern Arizona together. Then FINALLY, as everyone would say, amidst an argument (haha) I asked Kayla to marry me. which in turn is what the argument was about anyways. She, in a sobbing mess, accepted! We are proud for everyone to join and celebrate our next journey of our lives together!